Chapter 258: The grind

Rudra said " well , this is what I love about the guild , the energy , the passion , the drive to improove , the guild supports that ambitions for each member. And each members supports the ambition of the guild ". 

Nods and shouts of approval could be heard from throughout the crowd. They agreed with Rudra's words. 

Fattys bad feeling intensified , this was turning out to be worse than he expected , Rudra was in Shakuni mode right now. He was manipulating the crowd. 

Rudra continued " The biggest stage of them all awaits us all guys .... It's no secret at this point you all , many guild members have made it to the world stage ! The VR Olympics awaits ". 

Cheers were heard throughout the crowd. As glances were being slided towards all selected members who felt all warm in their stomachs from the attention. 

Some rubbed their noses ,as boys usually do when they are embarrassed while some tried to set their hair . 

Rudra continued " To those who have the opportunity to represent the guild and Japan at the world stage , I want to ask you , do you want to win? .... Silly me , ofcourse every Elite wants to win, that's a stupid question to ask. However the next question is serious. Do you think your current strength is enough ...? " . 

Silence spread through the crowd , as everyone contemplated that question , then a slow " No " was heard. 

Rudra smiled and said " Good , step one is clear , nobody here is delusional. Soo the question is , do the Elites have the spirit to improove ? ". 

' SIR YES SIR! ' 

A Shout could be heard from the crowd. 

Rudra said " Good good , that's what I expect from my members , well to be honest , even me myself am not strong enough to win in all the events I'm taking part in. However I will be spending the next 1 month training like a madman , and be the best I can be before the event ". 

Low murmurs could be heard everywhere , the members were all low-key bragging outside that their guild master was the undisputed number one player in Japan , and here he was unsure about his own medal chances. 

Everyone had seen him fight , and nobody had doubts that the guild master was a freak amongst the freak guild True Elites. If he said he needed training , then they all needed it more than him. 

Rudra said " I have heard that training collectively will be more helpful than training solo. Hence I would like to ask the Olympics participants , will you train with me? ". 

The VR Olympics participants replied in a heartbeat " Yes ! ". 

All except Fatty Kalash , who was sweating buckets by now. He knew what training with Rudra meant. 

When they were in high school , Rudra was mostly a laid back person who was least interested in studies , however once a guy in eight grade provoked Rudra that his science project was dumb.

That time Rudra and fatty Kalash were science partners and under Rudra's madness they spent 20 hours daily for the next seven days on making a fireprotection drone. 

They won the gold medal in science fair that year. It was the event that brought the duo as best friends. However , Rudra's madness was still embeded in fattys mind , those continuous hours of work still have him nightmares. He had never studied soo much even for his university exams, as much as Rudra had forced him to work in those days. 

And now Rudra was giving him that same maniacal vibe. The one where he would mostly make everyone present train like hell , and the innocent guild members would not even notice that they had been dragged into the hellish regime untill it was too late. 

Rudra continued " Good , good , training starts tommorow morning sharp at 7 am , we assemble below the guild tower , come in jogging shorts and running shoes and overall workout gear, the training is compulsory for all Olympics participants". 

The guild members were in high spirits , the VR members solemnly swore to be sharp on time tommorow. 

Rudra then continued " For those members who did not make it to the Olympics , I think you should realize by now that you need to develop more than those who did qualify. This Statement is not to cause a divide or to say that some of us are better than other. No ! , All of us are equals in the guild. But it is undeniable fact that some of us got selected but some of us did not. For you all I think the training is a good regime to shorten the gap .... Don't you think so? ". 

Everyone had fire in their eyes now , compared to normal players , yes they were better. But when everyone in the guild was too talented , one needed to put extra effort to stand out. 

Someone said " I will join the training guild master ". 

Then a second one said it

Then a third and soon everyone was roaring to join the training. 

Rudra smiled evily , he had made everyone here voluntarily accept the training , now was the time to strike the hammer while the iron was hot. Rudra said " The training will be very harsh , Its not for the weak of will ". 

This just insulted the Elites members , who burned with even more passion..... Who does guild leader think they were? They had wills as strong as mount Tai. Their resolves unshakable.

Fatty Kalash's eye twitched , only he understood what awaited the mass , the training would most likely be more brutal than a man could handle , and these innocent guild members were fooled into going into it with passion. 

He meekly asked Rudra " Can , I not do it? ". 

Rudra looked at fatty , and gave him a evil smile " You are taking part in the VR Olympics no? , It's compulsory for you ". 

Rudra then gave him a cold glare. 

Goosebumps! Fatty was scared. His friend was too terrifying at times. Seems like his fate was sealed. 

Of everyone present , the most determined person was Naomi. She had the most drive to improove and she made a resolve that she would make most of the training camp , to improve , and to finally become someone capable of becoming a elder in the guild. 

Maybe then Rudra would finally notice her .... 

Her passion burned the brightest , as she vowed to not quit training midway no matter how tough the training would get. 

The overall atmosphere was such , Rudra had expertly manipulated the crowd , most won't be feeling this way by tommorow night, however by then it would be too late , nobody could afford to be quitters , through sheer peer pressure they would be forced to endure the hell daily. 

The trap had been set up expertly and there was no escaping now. The real fun would begin 7 am tommorow.

Amongst all the clamour , Karna finally asked Rudra after walking upto him that what exactly was the training regime going to be. And why is training in real life a part of it? 

Rudra looked at Karna and said " Patience buddy , you will find out tommorow morning no? I have a surprise for you guys , I'm sure you will all enjoy ". 

Karna raised an eyebrow ,but eventually nodded. The next morning was hardly a few hours away , he would find out soon enough anyway. 

Giving a light bump on Rudra's shoulders Karna took his leave. He wanted to sleep early to make sure he had enough energy tommorow. 

Rudra commended this action of his , as yes , he would need every single ounce of that energy tommorow.